I started reading Inside Rehab by Anne M. Fletcher and was surprised to learn that “the word ‘addiction’ comes from a Roman law having to do with ‘surrender to a master'” (11). I checked the OED and learned it’s derived from the Latin a dicere, which means one who is dictated to.

There’s debate in psychology circles about whether someone can be addicted to a person. I’ve always held that the answer is yes from personal experience. It looks like this was an original sense of the word.

Another sense of the original Latin tells us that one can be addicted to anyone or anything which dictates one’s actions. This supports the experience of many people from abusive relationship or cult survivors to Internet porn or social media addicts.

I call this debate settled.

Fletcher, Anne M. Inside rehab: the surprising truth about addiction treatment: and how to get help that works. NY, NY: Viking, 2013.